Retinopathy of prematurity: incidence report of outliers based on international screening guidelines

Abstract Aim The objective of this study is to report the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) outliers that fall outside the screening guidelines of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) in our country. Methods A retrospective review of 503 records of newborns evaluated in our institution between January 2011 and March 2017. We analyzed the data by subgroups based on gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW) and stage, focusing on the outliers that don’t meet the criteria of the screening AAO guidelines (GA ≤ 30 weeks, BW ≤ 1500 g). Results Of the 503 records, 352 had some degree of ROP, 91.76% being bilateral, and 26.2% require treatment. The mean GA at delivery was 30.56 ± 2.33 weeks, and the mean BW was 1287.90 ± 338.52 g. For the current AAO/AAP ROP screening, 19.9% were outliers, of which (57%) had ROP diagnosis and (38%) required treatment. Conclusions ROP diagnosis in newborns of BW > 1500 g or GA > 30 weeks is not uncommon in Mexico, and it is important to take this into account to adjust the selection criteria on each population to reach all the infants at risk.